This
a copy of a letter , 30th July 1850, from Matthew Henry
Crosby to his brother Dr. John Crosby, Ouseburn, England

The original of this letter was lodged With The South Australian Archives In 1952 Adelaide, 30th July 1850

My Dear Bro',
We have now entered upon the second year of our Colonial life,
may God grant that this year may be more favourable , than the last one
has been. I received your long expected letter along with a few others
from my dear relations in England by Mrs . Cordaker
which were all of them gladly welcome by us when we heard you
were all much the same as when we left old England with the
exception of poor old Benj Cass whose death we were not at all
surprised to hear of .I was rather surprised that you had
not got either of my letters when you last wrote but hope by this time
they will both have arrived safe . I have likewise sent three or four
newspapers, one for you, which ought all to have landed by this time.

We feel sorry that our friends in England do not remember us with
a Yorkshire newspaper sometimes , hope they will be more thought in the
future if we are spared. Now my dear Bro' you say in your
letter I am to have good heart, that honest industry may for a
time be under a cloud but ultimately it will be rewarded. I
quite agree with you, honest industry will have its rewards
especially here , to the man that has his health , but when I tell you
that for the last five months I have not been able to do anything
at all through ill health, you may perhaps wonder how you have
got on but by trusting to providence and having kind
friends we have never been in want yet.

My illness began with a low fever and has left quite a weakness in my
back, my bowels all the time being very much out of order. I am
still under the Doctor's hands buy cannot get him to tell me my
complaint any further than he says is all weakness through
interposition of friends .I have the attendance of the Colonial
Surgeon, Mr. Marsh, who allows me one bottle of wine per
week and medicine gratis. which is indeed a great help to us as
Doctors fees are enormously high. They all seem to be doing good
who are in the Physic Trade.

Eleanor although not quite well is I am happy to say better now than
ever she has been since we arrived in the Colony. She has been very
much afflicted , the children and Mrs. Sootheran enjoy good
health. In my last letter directed to Mr. Rooke I told him that
we had lost our youngest child about a month after our arrival
here, the particulars of that you will have no doubt heard by this
time. I had just got comfortably settled in a very
respectable house in Adelaide when I fell ill.

I had been five months getting my pound a week and my grub. There
were five of us without the employers and all lived very
contentedly together. I am afraid I shall not be able to fulfill my
situation again but all that we must leave to providence. The name of
the firm is J & T Waterhouse. They came from
Derby and have been in the Colony 10 or 12 years and have gained
quite an independency. One of them is now over among his friends in
England , he left Adelaide during the time I was with them , the other
intends coming over on his return. They have shown very great kindness
to me and are of great repute in the Colony.
This is now our winter season, the old colonists say
they never knew such a fine winter as we have had . so far ,they
generally have a great deal of rain during the months of
June , July and August, but for the month or six weeks the
weather has been so bracing , frosty at nights but not so severe
as to cause ice to make its appearance , and a fine clear
sky with a beautiful shining sun which makes all look so
pleasant around us that so far we like winter best.
The summer months are hot and very unpleasant during the hot
winds there are times when you scarce see across the street
for the clouds of dust , but this only occasionally , still quite often
enough . There are a few of the natives scattered around the town
but they are very harmless, they build their huts near the town
in the winter time and in the summer season they are driven further up
in the country as they are considered to be rather injurious about the
town in the hot weather. They have a disagreeable smell about them .
The males are some of them very fond of dress, sometimes you will see
one of them with a policeman's jacket and trousers on and walking up
and down the town with as much consequences as any of your first
rate gentlemen in England and another with perhaps a fine white
shirt and collar above his ears with a first rate surtout coat ,
white waistcoat and trousers to match all of which he had given
to him , they are very fond of money and sell a deal of clothes they
get given one among the other .If they should ask for money , which
they often do they have got neck enough to ask for which money
,meaning silver, they will say give me white money, white fellows got
plenty money. Upon the whole
they are a very idle set of people some few of them will chop a
few sticks sometimes , but then they want both tucker and money and
they soon tire The women are not so much for dress as the
men, most of them in a state of nakedness , just a bit of a
blanket thrown over them there -- they will walk up and down the town ,
the men are most of them tall and a straight race of people with a
beautiful set of teeth, and fine open countenances and are
considered very honest .

You say in your letter , I am to give you an account , if a man was to
come over with five hundred pounds , how he might lay it out to
the best advantage. What I have seen so far of the country is certainly
beautiful although I have not seen much of it yet. I have been
full thirty miles out and the and the different directions that I took
had a very pleasant appearance , there is some of the land rather
thickly covered with wood , but on the other hand there is
a very great deal quite ready for the plough, water in some parts
rather scarce , buy on the whole it is a fine climate. A person coming
out with a small capital, I would not recommend him to go headlong into
farming. He may make much more money in the town if he be a sharp
man and look well about him .
There are auction sales nearly every other day, either of land or
merchandise and there is often some very good bargains on the
part of the purchasers . Money too is so valuable here you can always
get very good interest for it and on good security .We have got, gold,
silver and copper mines within a short distance of
Adelaide. There has been a gold mine found out since we came here , but
I think it is not likely very prosperous , the silver mine is doing
pretty well and the copper mine at the Burra is paying
amazingly .Those who have shares there are all right.
Another way a man might turn a small capital to advantage in town ,
that is building houses, rent is very dear indeed , the greatest
part of the houses are built very low, only one floor ,no upstairs work
in many of them as you have in England and a small cottage with
rooms will let for seven or eight shillings a week and more than
that near the main streets , but after all there are some splendid
houses , shops, and public places. There is a fine large bank ,
magnificent Post Office, and a beautiful Court House , all on the way
of nearly finished . Many other buildings going forward , there has
been an innumerable number of both brick and wood houses built since we
came .They seem to spring up like mushrooms in a night , but still
Adelaide is only in its infancy.
They are beginning to get the streets in good repair and the town
seems is getting to be a large bustling place .There is a very
great deal of business done in it and in time is looked for a
great deal more traffic going forwards , railways in different
directions have been talked about , but do not seem to go forward . I
have no doubt but that ultimately we shall have our puffing
engines here the same as you have in England , them that are spared to
live to see it.

There are likewise a great many public houses , and a vast number of
deep drinkers , the Innkeepers most of them seem to thrive well but a
many of them are a low set of people , here is also the Foresters and
Odd Fellows Club with Benevolent Societies of various kinds
similar to what you have at home, all seems to be in a thriving
state by what I can here. I was sorry to hear by your
last letter that times were so hard in England , hope before long that
they will have a turn for the better. How glad we should be all of us
to see you pop in some day with a " well Harry, how goes it my lad/".,
but that day we shall never see. I would not advise any of my friends
to come out except they could make up their minds to turn their
hands to anything although I do not think that a steady industrious man
may do a great deal better here than in England
providing he has his health , but people must not come over here
thinking they can live without working for I can assure you
it is not the case. Now I
must begin to answer your questions which I will be most happy to
do so far as I am able , perhaps I may not answer them so
correctly as I might Have done had I been able to go,
out to make enquiry respecting some of them having not been in
business for about five months being confined to the house through ill
health .. I shall be rather excusable if some of them are not quite
right although I have friends popping in sometimes and I gain a little
information when I can from them.
!st. A steady industrious warehouseman in Adelaide can get from fifteen
to twenty shillings per week with board and lodgings , but there is not
much call at present for that class of man for a tradesman has
got a person that he can place with confidence in they are rather
loathe to part with him, it should be so.
2nd. A labourer that is a farm servant may get twelve to sixteen
shillings per week with rations , but wages are very much reduced
within the last two or three years owing to the great quality of
people who want employment as soon as they arrive . We want
a few shiploads of you money men from England to create a little
more work in the Colony , then we should be alright , there is plenty
of room yet you should not be afraid there will not be any land
left for you to rent or purchase.
3rd & 4th. It is rather a difficult question to answer as it
depends so much on the locality of the land . I asked a friend
the other day and he said you may buy cultivated land within 6
miles of Adelaide at ten pounds per acre that will grow wheat,
oats and barley, but I would not recommend any person coming quite
strange into the colony to purchase land until he had looked well about
him and could see his way clear.

I think a person with small capital coming out to farm here would be by
far the best way for him to bring a good dairy man or maid with
him who thoroughly understood the making of butter and cheese,
instead of buying to rent two or three sections of land as both these
articles are very dear in the colony .You may purchase good milk
cows at about four pounds each. He might also breed pigs and
poultry for bacon, eggs and fowls , all meat with a ready sale and
fetch a good price-- the retail price at the present time for butter is
18 pence per pound , bacon 9 pence ,eggs 16 pence per dozen fowls
4 shillings and sixpence per couple, geese 6 shillings each,
turkeys 6 to 9 shillings each, pigeons 2 shillings per pair , al these
could pay well at the present prices and you may rent two or three
sections of land from 3 shillings and six pence to 4 shillings
and sixpence per acre, but the average price is 4 shillings.
5th Wheat per bushel at the present time is 3 shillings and six
pence to 4 shillings , but it is very seldom so high as it is at
present sometimes down to 2 shillings and six pence per bushel 6th Beans, none for sale. I cannot here of any grower of beans in the colony.
7th Oats, 3 shillings to 3 and sixpence at present time ,
Barley, 2 shillings and 9pence. 8th The
uncultivated land has not at all a bad appearance , the greatest part
of it , some is thickly wooded , some just a nice quality wood on it to
be useful such as fencing with, and some quite clean of wood with a
nice herbage on it, some of it hilly, but a great part of it flat and
you may continue south .about thirty miles from Adelaide .
9th There are three brewers in town and two or three more
in the surrounding villages round about.
10th Their price for ale I have not been able to find out . The
Publicans retail it for 6 pence and 8 pence per quart, and the best of
it is only middling. 11th Brewers
wages are from 25 shillings to thirty shillings per week. The brewers
in town seem to be doing pretty well all of them. 12th Tallow Chandlers wages about the same.
13th Mould Chandlers are sold at 6 pence per pound . There are no small
candles made in the colony, have never seen anywhat your cal
dips since leaving the Old Country .
14th Tea from 1 shilling and sixpence to 2 shillings and
sixpence per pound, coffee is higher now, or else up till late
there was none above 1 shilling per pound . Now it is 1 shilling
and 6 pence to 2 shillings per pound owing to scarcity of the
article . Sugar from 2 1/2 pence to 4 pence per lb., rice 2 and
1/2 to 5 pence . Beef 1 and 1/2 to 3 pence, mutton the same. Beef
here is not quite as well fed up as in England and is
rather coarse. Mutton is very sweet and good.
15th A respectable servant woman here can get from ten to fifteen
shillings per week and good servants are in request , there are
so many indifferent ones come out that there is a great want of
good. Ones. 16th The 16th last
question is almost answered by what I have stated above
considering the sickness we have had you may be sure my pocket
will stand low, but although in a far away land we have had and hope to
have our friends therefore need not complain. I do not think that
with the same sickness in England we should have been any better off ,
thus far we have always had sufficient food and clothing and we
must trust to providence for the rest, hope am spared to have my
health again we shall still be able to gain an honest livelihood in
this land of plenty for I have no reason to call it any other
thus far, and I hope and trust never shall have . This finishes the
answering of the questions you put to me which I have done to the
best of my knowledge not using any flattering at all respecting
any one of them but contrary wise if anything.
We often talk about our friends in England and wonder how they
are all getting on , whether any of them will follow our example in
coming to this or going to any other colony . I'm afraid England will
get to such a pitch that many will be induced to leave it and try their
fortunes in some foreign land where they will be remunerated for
their labour , but where they will have many more difficulties to put
up with fir the first few years than they ever had at home , but still
if a man finds himself fairly set what with rents and
enormous re why not at
once pluck up spirit and emigrate to some place where he will be more
likely to succeed in my humble opinion .
A steady industrious man has nine chances of getting an honest
livelihood in some of the colonies to one in England where he has
nothing to depend on but his own industry . There is certainly
the pain of parting with relations and friends whom you have associated
with and perhaps spent many happy hours together for a number of
years . This in my opinion is the greatest difficulty for anyone
leaving home. Do give our united love to
all our dear relations when you see them and as for advising any of
them to come out I shall remain passive on that point for fear they
should not find things according to their expectations and
afterwards I should get the blame, but we should be very glad indeed to
see any of our relations or friends out here to share their fate with
us but those of you are doing well where you are if you
want to enjoy the comfortable life after all a
person like yourself would enjoy very much a trip to the Australian
Colonies if you could get anyone to manage your business for
twelve months or so ..I think you would not regret nor yet begrudge the
experience in coming to see this fine country.
You would be delighted in going to see the different copper and silver
mines and taking a regular survey of the country. There is such a fine
range of hills about five miles from Adelaide I often think Mr. long
would be very fond of the country. James Jepson,
Eliza and Charles al well and have enjoyed good health since they came
here. James has got a good situation as assistant draper in Adelaide.
His salary is 30 shillings per week , but he has to find his own grub.
James I am happy to say is likely to do well in this fine country .
They desire their kind love to their friends in England , but he wrote
to Charles not long since and would tell him all the particulars . Now I will relate to you a few words respecting Colonial life and than conclude..
If you were to pop in some day to see us we have not an arm chair for
you to sit on nor yet a table for you to get you dinner off, but,
Colonial like ,we have a good large box that answers the purpose of a
table and some smaller ones we use instead of chairs and couches to
sleep on . We have no coal here and nothing but hearth fires so we burn
nothing but sticks . There are comparatively speaking so few, but of
course we have bake houses and many of the bakers are doing uncommonly
well . Some of the large merchants have got their country houses a
short distance from Adelaide and live in splendour and a many who
live in their snug cottages in town with a beautiful garden that will
grow all names of vegetables and fruits , and nice verandahs to their
houses to secure them from the summer heat. They seem to quite enjoy
themselves . I must now draw this long rigmarole sort of letter to a
conclusion or you will weary before you get it read.
Give our kind love to Mr. and Mrs. Rooke . and their families ,
hope they are all well. I sent an account of our voyage to Mr.R. …… was
sorry that he had not received it when you wrote but hope it now
arrived safe . Do give our kind regards to Mr. and Mrs. Cass and we
were sorry to hear they had lost their little girl , but I should think
by this time they will have another in her place. Our relations , when
you see them , give our united love to them and shall be very glad to
see any of them if they can put up with a Colonial life, but mind
you, I would not advise any although do not regret coming myself.
Jane Grace is a teacher in the British and Foreign School , she lodges
with us .Mrs. Sootheran is with us , likewise William and Mary Ann both
enjoy good health. William goes regularly to school . Eleanor is
middling and I think feels better than when I commenced my letter . I remain, my dear Brother, Your affectionate Brother
Matthew Henry Crosby.

Note. On the corner of the first
page . "When you write direct for me at the Post Office , Adelaide ,
South Australia, as are always on the lookout when an English
ship arrives.